As HR practitioners, our love of lists and check lists are quite something!  As much as I am not a believer in the cliché ‘New Year, New Me’, I am a believer in ‘can we do things better and if so, how’. So, with this in mind, we’ve drawn up a list of a few things you could review during 2019 to see if improvements can be made.

Review your Onboarding Programme

In 2017, the CIPD found that 1 in 5 people leave their job during their probationary period.  A well designed and implemented on-boarding program is an essential element to retention.  What could the reasons be?

• Unclear job expectations
• The job not being as sold during interview
• Team fit
• Not feeling valued
• Dislike of the company culture
• Not liking the boss.

What can you do to ensure that you get this right from day 1?

• Show them the basics first – toilets, where can I get coffee, what’s my login etc
• Ensure your managers follow the onboarding checklists
• Consider a ‘buddy’ system – someone other than line management they can talk to
• Introduce them to senior management
• Regularly check on them
• Ask them if there’s anything they’d like assistance with in particular.

Ensure you use your probationary period

There will always be a few occasions when your recruitment process didn’t give you the right hire.

Ensure you use your probationary period to hold formal reviews and ensure these are documented.  Use constructive feedback aimed at improvement. If there is a chance that someone is at risk of not successfully completing their probation period, don’t be afraid to tell them the improvement required and the possible outcome.

Review your Appraisal Process

If this is something that you find is time-consuming and a waste of time, review it.  Consider how you can ensure that you continue with employee feedback where the process is deemed as valuable and engaging to the employee as well as useful to the business.

Benefits

Review your benefits and what your business can offer an employee. It’s not all about the financial benefits but also around agile working, procession, culture and even environmental impact.

Documents

An oldie but a goodie, make sure your documents are up to date, relevant to your business and legally compliant. This is particularly important when a business has grown, its roles and management teams have evolved.

If you would like to discuss any of the above, then get in touch with us today. Be sure to start the year off on the right foot!